


A Bear Frets

by todisturbtheuniverse



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-02-06
Packaged: 2018-09-22 10:00:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9603101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/todisturbtheuniverse/pseuds/todisturbtheuniverse
Summary: Trinket would do anything to protect Vex. If only she would pick more reasonably-sized foes. Zahra lends an ear to his worries.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For Critical Role Relationship Week. Takes place right around episode 56.

Mostly, the people Trinket travels with understand him.

Vex best of all, obviously. He doesn't know her language—he doesn't have a language of his own, not really, not the way she understands it—but he knows her, and she knows him. He understands the smallest quirks in her face, what the flick of her eyes means, every twitch of her fingers in midair, the fluctuation of her voice, even if the words are never clear. They've never needed language. They've always had each other.

But things are different, now, since the dragons came. More complicated than ever before. Trinket finds himself with feelings so snared and tangled that he can't make sense of them, and, worse, he can't convey them. Not even to Vex. They grow like a weight in his chest, ache like thorns in his paws, and he can't shake free of them.

After the black dragon dies, though, and they return to Whitestone, Trinket catches a familiar scent in the air: Zahra.

Vex goes to see her immediately, of course, but all through the visit, Trinket stays quiet. This is something he will have to do later, without Vex. Even the idea of it hurts him. He doesn't like to do anything without Vex. He's nearly as fond of Vax, and even Percy, but there's no replacement for her. It feels dishonest. A troubling feeling, for a bear.

More troubling, though, are the complexities he's snared in. He goes back to Zahra while Vex is busy that afternoon, shoving open her door with his head.

She turns away from her desk, her books, with a smile. "Trinket, darling," she says. "What a nice surprise."

He grumbles. He doesn't know how to tell her to use her magic, so he tries to convey—by flopping down to the floor and pouting—that something is wrong.

She gets the hint. Clever Zahra. Clever Vex. All of them more clever than him. She stretches a hand out, makes a small series of gestures, and the magic washes over him. When she speaks again, everything crystallizes, clarity emerging where only vague understanding existed before.

_Is something wrong, pet?_ she asks, coming down to the floor beside him. She arranges her robes neatly, tucking her legs beneath her.

He huffs. _I'm not strong enough to protect Vex anymore_ , he tells her, right to the point.

This gives her pause. She stills for a handful of heartbeats, and then reaches out to ruffle up his fur. She does it in just the right way, too; he closes his eyes to enjoy it.

_Things are different now, aren't they,_ she muses. _Ancient dragons are an awful lot bigger than bandits or giants._

He groans an acknowledgment.

She keeps on ruffling up his fur, all along his back. _She'll be all right,_ she says, though to Trinket, it sounds very much as if she's reassuring herself just as much as she's reassuring him. _She's so smart, isn't she?_

_Is smart enough to protect her when she goes running after dragons?_

_I tell myself it must be,_ Zahra tells him. _I tell myself it has to be. Trinket_ … She pauses, even in the ruffling of his fur. He waits, head on folded paws. _I know you want to protect Vex. There's only so much one fierce bear can do, though. There's only so much anyone can do when the world is burning._

He grumbles again and rolls onto his back, paws in the air. She starts briskly rubbing his belly, which takes some of the foul taste of this conversation away.

_The world should stop burning, then._

Zahra laughs, but the sound is shot through with sorrow. _It won't unless we put the fire out, I'm afraid._

_I just get in her way,_ he grouses. _I do what I can, but what good are my claws against a dragon? And Vex worries too much about me. She should worry about herself._

Zahra leans over him and grasps his head between her hands. _My dear,_ she says, with a force of feeling that orders him to listen. _I think you forget that Vex'ahlia feels just as responsible for you as you do for her. You were barely a cub when she found you, after all._

He barely remembers those times, too young for anything but flashes: Vex's tear-streaked face, her gentle arms carrying him away from that fire, from his dead mother. He remembers being small enough to be carried in a sling on her back, beside her arrows. Trying to growl and shout over her shoulder at bandits who approached her and Vax, paws on her shoulders.

_I think you might consider that she feels just as distressed at being unable to protect you,_ she tells him, _as you are, at being unable to protect her._

This does not help. If anything, he might feel a little worse, thinking that Vex might feel as sick with dread as he does.

_I don't want her to worry._ His stomach squirms. Vex should always be smiling, not worrying, but Zahra is right; she does a great deal of worrying now.

Zahra kisses his nose. _We can't help but worry about the creatures we love. Take comfort in that, even when all else seems lost. I know I do._

It's all still too big, and scary, even for a bear, but Zahra is right. His claws and teeth will do what little good they can. Vex's arrows will do a little more. And he will stay with her, guard her, until the very end. At least they will be together, always. Dragons cannot change that.

_Now_ , Zahra says, with a brisk note to her voice that says she, too, is struggling with her feelings, _enough of this moping. I have a whole lot of berries here with your name on it._

He licks her right across her face, which prompts a loud, pleased laugh. Trinket loves Vex best, but there is plenty of room in his heart for the tiefling who gives him reassurances and tosses sweet berries in the air for him to catch.


End file.
